Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1887-08-25
A PRACTICAL SERMON.
Rev. Raymond West at the
Central Church.


me-" were the words of the text chosen
by the young and talented minister,
Rev. Raymond West, a former stu
dent of the South Jersey Institute.
From this text he preached a very
clear practical sermon.
He answered with telling arguments
the popular questions propounded by
the skeptical and sinful when asked to
follow Christ. He said that these
words were uttered by Christ when He
commanded Peter to follow Him, and
when Peter had turned to John who
was standing near and asked Christ
what this man was going to do. Mr..
West stated that God was willing to
tell all that was necessary for his fol-
lowers to know, but the words of the
text were his answer to questions
which were of no benefit to them to
know
He said that one of the popular
questions asked by sinners was, ''Why
is sin in the world? If God is omnipo-
tent, why does He not with a single
stroke of His power wipe out this SIM
God has His reasons for this. Man
cannot solve the problem. 1t is not
for us to know. What business is it of
ours why sin is here? 1t is here, and
if we knew why and how, it would
not alter the circumstances whatever.
We would have to follow the Lord if
we wanted salvation.
He spoke of the folly of those who
point to the church and say II won't
Join your church of three or four hun
dred membership, because in it you
have half a dozen hypocrites.n How
absurd! said the speaker, those very
men go in the world and associate
with ten hundred times that number
of sinners and wrong doers. What
satisfaction is it, he asked, when that
sinner comes to die, if he is judged
and sent to the place of eternal pun
ishment, even if he is accompanied by
those half dozen hypocritical church
members?
Very beautifully did he illustrate
how man could grasp things by faith,
by the example of Columbus when he
started on his memorable voyage. He
thought to reach India by new route,
and, inspired by faith, he set sail, and
great was his reward, for through his
faith the then unknown land of Amer
ica was discovered Those men who
will not believe anything that they
cannot see or hear might learn lesson
from this. They have full confidence
in their eyes, but the conjurors can
deceive the keenest observer by theil
tricks.
Again the argument is used: ''Why
is the wicked man prosperous and the
the good man sometimes hardly able
to get along?' Does that apply to any
common sense. OF course not. DID
you ever stop to question the business
ability of either of these men. Was
not the sinner keen business man
and the poor man somewhat dull in
business matters? When a man be
comes Christian. God does not change
| the business faculties which nature
has provided at birth. But he has
riches which become more valuable
in eternity, than if in this life he had
come in possession of millions of dollars
Why does wrong conquer over
right?" was another question the
young divine took up and disposed Of
| He said it was but short time that
wrong conquors over right. In the
end the right conquers. 1t always has
| and always Twill. Thus he declared
| temperance would come and in the enc
would rule the world. While these
things are still going on; while these
things conflict with what Christians
think should be, still the words of the
text should apply. "What is that tc
thee? Follow thou me-"